The designer was born in São Paulo, Brazil, to a line of Italian goldsmiths. Her great-grandfather created sacred adornments for the Vatican and her father worked as a goldsmith. “He taught me the importance of craftsmanship," she says. "I learned to pay attention to every hinge and every clasp." She established an appointment-only jewelry business in 1998 and opened her first standalone boutique in São Paulo in 2009.

Furmanovich’s daring designs combine her meticulous attention to detail with her wide-ranging passions for innovative craftsmanship, the natural world, ancient cultures and unusual materials. And while her lifelong love of travel has informed many of her collections, her interpretation of those cultures — from Egypt to Japan — is rarely straightforward. Employing a unique alchemy of found artifacts, traditional techniques and materials both humble and precious, the designer creates wearable art that feels timeless and one-of-a-kind.